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NBA Sets Up Public Interest Litigation Committee
By Joseph Ayinde
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has set up a 13-member committee which will be taking up public interest suits on its behalf.
The association’s Publicity Secretary, Rapulu Nduka, stated in a statement on Wednesday that the Public Interest Litigation Committee (PILC) is led by Charles Mekwunye as Chairman, and Olumide Ayeni, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, as Co-Chairman.
Mr Nduka stated that “recent events in the nation have reinforced the need for the NBA to activate its public interest litigation machinery”.
Newsmen had reported how the NBA said in a press statement about five days ago that it was considering instituting public interest suits to challenge authorities’ arbitrary acts.
The association had made the statement in the wake of the protests embarked upon by 30 magistrates in Calabar to demand the payment of about 24 months salary owed them by the Cross Rivers State Government.
On Wednesday, the NBA said its new committee will help “to institute actions to challenge and seek judicial intervention on various issues”.
“To that end, the NBA has now empaneled a 13-member NBA Public Interest Litigation Committee (PILC) with a mandate to, among other things, actively take steps to restore and reinforce the faith of the society in law as a veritable tool to bringing solutions to societal issues and checking abuse of power,” the statement added.
Aside the chairman and co-chairman, the other members of the PILC are Paul Ananaba, who is currently the Chairman of the NBA’s Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), Kunle Edun, Aderemi Oguntoye, Boonyameen Lawal, Solomon Oho, Gloria Ballason, Malachy Odo, Olumide Babalola, Baba Isah, Amaka Ezeno, and Auwal Yau
